What is Speech Therapy?

Speech-language pathologists (SLP), sometimes called speech therapists, assess, diagnose, treat, and help to prevent disorders related to speech, language, cognitive-communication, pragmatic, voice, swallowing, and fluency. SLP's provide a wide range of services through individualized treatment plans and also by means of assistance for families, support groups, and offering information to the general public. If your child has difficulty with speech, he/she struggles with the “how-to” of talking, which is defined as the coordination of the muscles and movements necessary to produce speech sounds. If your child has trouble with language, he/she might struggle with understanding what he/she hears or sees. Your child could struggle to express the words and/or organize the words in a meaningful way to communicate a message or hold a conversation. 

We provide the following services for our Speech Therapy clients:

• Speech Therapy Evaluations: 

     Evaluations at TOP Pediatric Therapy are very thorough. We use a variety of standardized assessments that measure articulation, language, cognitive-communication, pragmatics, voice, and fluency abilities. In some cases, our speech evaluations also will involve non-standardized or criterion-referenced measurements. Our testing will always include informal observation and parent input. For our younger clients, we use a play-based approach and assessment. Additionally, we can provide evaluations for assistive technology. 

   Our evaluations include: 1.5 to 2 hours for an interactive based evaluation and a 45 to 60 min parent conference.

• Individual Speech Therapy:

    Our speech therapy sessions are individualized based on the findings of the evaluation. Each session focuses on the areas of development that were determined to be weaknesses for the child. 

    Our sessions include the following modalities based on the needs of the child:

                  • Articulation - the way we say our speech sounds

                  • Phonology - the speech patterns we use

                  • Apraxia - difficulty planning and coordinating the movements needed to  

                                     make speech sounds

                  • Fluency - stuttering

                  • Voice - the way the voice sounds, such as hoarseness

                 • Receptive Language - understanding language

                 • Expressive Language - expressing language

                 • Pragmatic Language - social communication; the way we 

                                                          speak/communication with each other

                 • Oral-Motor - motor movements, strength, coordination, and precision of the 

                                          tongue, lips, cheeks, jaw, palate

                 • Swallowing/Feeding - chewing, manipulating food with the tongue, 

                                                         coordinating mouth and throat structures and muscles, 

                                                         breathing appropriately while eating

• Group Speech Therapy:

     Peer modeling is important when addressing some speech-language skills, such as morphology, semantics, phonology, and pragmatics. In some cases, to help your child generalize a newly learned skill, group therapy will be recommended; this way, your child can work on generalizing these skills and facilitate mastery. One frequent reason that group therapy is recommended is to target pragmatic language or the “social” language we partake in every day. Contact us today to learn more!

• Parent/Caregiver Training:

    All sessions end with 5 to 10 minutes of training for parents. The TOP Pediatric Therapy team recognizes the importance of helping parents and caregivers understand what has occurred during therapy, answer questions about therapy, and provide feedback about your child's success. Carryover of therapy achievements is crucial for continued success in the child’s life. Our team is also available via e-mail or phone when parents have questions.